[mapt]

Another point towards this hypothesis, but on the wealthy end of the spectrum rather than the poor end: http://www.vox.com/2015/1/16/7545509/inequality-waste

The questions are, why are positional concerns so obscenely powerful here as opposed to elsewhere, and why are positional concerns so obscenely powerful now as opposed to earlier?†

†Note the latter is somewhat questionable, as we had a black underclass to systemically persecute for a long time, and this action is blamed for everything from our lack of a public healthcare system to the gaps in our educational policy favoring high-income areas to suburban roadbuilding to the prevalence of private neighborhood & household swimming pools.